Stockwell Day grilled in court over security certificate meant to detain suspect in terrorist plot until he can be deported

A downtown courtroom witnessed the unusual spectacle Thursday of a former public security minister forced to testify on how the government makes top-secret national security decisions.

Despite objections from government lawyers, Stockwell Day was called to testify in the long legal battle of Mohamed Mahjoub, 51, an Egyptian who is accused of moving to Canada as part of a terrorist plot and who has been in prison or under house arrest since 2000 as a threat to security.

Related

Mr. Day spoke of signing security certificates against five men accused of terrorist links, including Mr. Mahjoub, in Vancouver airport on Feb. 22, 2008, during a 30-minute lunch-hour meeting with officials.

The signing followed review of boxes of files and evidence in the weeks and months beforehand, he said.

At issue is whether the court upholds or rejects the security certificate meant to detain Mr. Mahjoub until he can be deported. His lawyers say because much of the evidence against him was obtained abroad through torture, the certificate should be overturned.

The court heard that Mr. Day was sent a memo from Jim Judd, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, warning that “it is very difficult, if not impossible, for this service to confirm whether information is derived through mistreatment or torture.”

Mr. Day said the government would never imprison a man based on information extracted under torture.

“To act on something you had evidence was derived from torture was something the government wouldn’t countenance,” he said.

His primary concern was protecting Canadians, he said.

Mr. Day also said the frightening spectre of terrorism formed a backdrop for the certificates.

“Canada is not immune to terrorism; activities had been proven to have taken place here,” he said. “Canada continued to be named by al-Qaeda and individuals like Osama bin Laden as a target.”

Critics of the security certificate process roused supporters to attend the hearing promising an opportunity to “See Stockwell squirm” but the former minister passed five hours of questioning without obvious discomfort, although he frequently told court he just “couldn’t recall” specifics of many incidents.

Mr. Hameed asked Mr. Day about the destruction of the original evidence against Mr. Mahjoub, including wiretap recordings, and the monitoring of conversations by Mr. Mahjoub’s lawyers. Mr. Day said he could not recall knowing about it.

Mr. Mahjoub still lives under restrictions and his lawyers have picked away at the government’s evidence, the terrorism law itself and the way this particular case has been handled.

In June, a Federal Court judge ordered 11 Department of Justice lawyers and other officials off the case after the government inadvertently walked off with confidential files belonging to Mr. Mahjoub.

Mr. Mahjoub won release from prison after challenges to the Federal Court, arguing an unreasonably long wait in prison for any possible deportation. His release is contingent upon strict supervision that amounts to house arrest.

Along the way, however, there have been glimpses of the concern the government had with Mr. Mahjoub.

One judge referred to him as “a leader, a decision-maker, a planner and a recruiter for the radical Islamic cause.”

Canadian officials have been trying to deport Mr. Mahjoub over allegations of past involvement in Vanguards of Conquest, a branch of the Al-Jihad terrorist group headed at the time by bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

After arriving in Canada with a fake passport in 1995, Mr. Mahjoub obtained refugee status the following year and wed a Canadian woman in a marriage arranged by a man he met at a Toronto mosque.

He was first arrested on June 26, 2000, after a certificate calling for his deportation as a threat to national security was signed by previous ministers.

Mr. Day was required to sign new certificates because of changes in the law ordered by the court.

He said in court that some of the material he relied upon to make that decision was derived from foreign agencies associated with the use of torture, based in countries with poor records on human rights.

The case continues with another unusual hearing: a 7 a.m. appearance on Sunday of a witness from Cairo.